Friday, October 28, 2016

Will Justice be Served?

Terrorism is rampant in the world right now. And even though
Israel is no longer the focus of terror by the mainstream media – it still exists there in spades. I need not
go into all the attacks not too long ago by individual Palestinians against
individual Israelis. Unfortunately those of us who pay attention to what happens
in Israel are well aware of it. (Although it seems to have died down somewhat in
recent months.)

One such attack happened in June of 2015 on a road near the
West Bank town of Shvut Rachel. Hamas terrorists opened fire on 4 Jewish
civilians in a car traveling down that road. One was killed.

Sadly this type of thing is still a concern for Israelis
living in – or traveling through outlying areas. There seems to be little Israeli law
enforcement can do about these kinds of random attacks.

The question arises whether there is anything anyone at all
can do about it. And if so, is it ethical or moral. I am not one that believes
in taking the law into your own hands. That is a prescription for disaster.
Often a private citizen will end up shooting and killing innocent victims – mistaking
them for the perpetrators of a crime. Or they may end up being killed
themselves in the attempt.

I am therefore firmly opposed to anyone but law
enforcement – enforcing the law. That they may be hampered at times in carrying out
justice because of legal technicalities is something we have to live with in a
civilized society. Police must err on the side of caution. Lest they become
murderers themselves. Innocent blood must never be shed!

Unfortunately there are terrorists among our own people who
care nothing about innocent blood being shed –as long as it’s Arab blood. In
fact they celebrate it! Which in my view makes them little different from
Palestinians on the West bank that celebrate killing Jews - or even
Americans on American soil - since they perceive Americans to be supporting
Israel. One may recall the revelry and
expressions of joy by Burka draped Palestinian mothers celebrating the events
of 9/11, They handed out candy to little children on the streets of the West
Bank! (I will never forget that sight.)

We have our own share of such celebrants. In what was
clearly a celebratory response to the cowardly act of firebombing the home of an innocent Palestinian family in the village of Duma. An 18 month old baby
was burned alive and three other family members died. This happened shortly after
the attack near Shvut Rachel. This was almost certainly perpetrated by Israeli
terrorists on the extreme fringes of the right wing. From a 2015 JTA article:

A senior Israeli army officer said there is no doubt that
Jews firebombed a West Bank Palestinian home that left an 18-month baby and his
parents dead.

“We know unequivocally that this is an act of Jewish
terror,” the officer told reporters Tuesday in a briefing, the Israeli media
reported. “All the rumor and speculation being spread on this issue lack
any basis in reality.”

On January of 2016Amiram Ben-Uliel was indicted for murder in this case. So yes, terrorism is alive and well in Israel. And
Palestinians aren’t the only ones doing it. But even on the outside chance that
Jewish terrorists from the extreme right didn’t do it – as is claimed by so many of their defenders –
under the outrageous theory that Palestinians did this in order to make Jews look bad - the reactions to this horrible crime by 500 attendees of a wedding were
certainly those of Jews. Unfortunately religious looking ones… as the photo (above) of
Yakir Ashbel - the Chasan at that wedding indicates.

Ashbel denies any knowledge of
the revelatory celebration of that firebombing – claiming that he was too involved
in his wedding to notice it. But I find that a bit hard to swallow. As do the
police apparently since he too was arrested.

But whether he knew about it or
not, there is not a doubt in the world about the fact that this group of fanatic
mostly right wing Religious Zionist - Kahane type Jews were in love with the
fact that a Palestinian baby was burned alive. There
is no denying it because it was recorded and placed on the internet for the
entire world to see.

Thankfully 13 suspected instigators of that celebration were
indicted a couple of days ago. From the Times of Israel:

The indictments — for charges of incitement to violence,
supporting a terror group, racist incitement, and weapons offenses — were filed
with the approval of Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit, due the nature of the
charges against the suspects.

I can’t think of too many more people I would like to see in
jail than these miscreants. If they are convicted - it would be poetic justice
to put them in the same cell as Palestinians who were convicted of a similar
crime. Because a lesson must be learned here.

This wasn’t merely a case of celebration of taking justice
into your own hands. That would be bad enough. This was a case of celebrating pure
unadulterated revenge against innocent people in the most horrific of ways. As
a civilized society Israel needs to do whatever it takes to prevent both the
crime and any celebration of it from ever happening again… if we are ever to
reclaim the moral high ground.

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About Me

My outlook on Judaism is based mostly on the teachings of my primary Rebbe, Rabbi Aaron Soloveichik from whom I received my rabbinic ordination. It is also based on a search for spiritual truth. Among the various sources that put me on the right path, two great philosophic works stand out: “Halakhic Man” and “Lonely Man of Faith” authored by the pre-eminent Jewish philosopher and theologian, Rabbi, Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Of great significance is Rabbi, Dr. Norman Lamm's conceptualization and models of Torah U’Mada and Dr. Eliezer Berkovits who introduced me to the world of philosophic thought. Among my early influences were two pioneers of American Elementary Torah Chinuch, Rabbis Shmuel Kaufman and Yaakov Levi. The Yeshivos I attended were Yeshivas Telshe for early high school and more significantly, the Hebrew Theological College where for a period of ten years, my Rebbeim included such great Rabbinic figures as Rabbis Mordechai Rogov, Shmaryahu Meltzer, Yaakov Perlow, Herzl Kaplan, and Selig Starr. I also attended Roosevelt University where I received my Bachelor's Degree - majoring in Psychology.